RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4317, 28 March 1901, Page 4

RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES.

To .the logical mind; nothing can be more satisfactory than the rapid-spread of. the adherence to the principle of restricting municipal taxation to the unimproved value. It is a sign that the community is. rapidly adopting'the opinion that ..industry and thrift are hot. the things to bo selected for penal treatment. The Borough of Onslow has! just given its adhesion; the Trades andLabour Council of Wellington has he-1 gun a campaign for extending . this

I wholesome idea; and. it will be uo detriment to their " efforts that the Ratepayers’ ' Association: "has,,» by resolution, adopted- their basic principle. The agitation that has commenced ap- , peals to every,.,citizen of intelligence in I the name of justice, and ought to in-j spire him,: with.'• lippe : that justice will be done. Unhappily,' the difficulty iu tne way' of the reform begins when we leave tlie world of theory-,for the confused’ regibfi of practice. Cities have, as tvc pointed out .the,other day, grown to greatness on. the pernicious system, i They are confronted with the rosponj sibility of • heavy debts, ’ andtho need for a large -.yearly.’expenditure. The fiuaricp on which .is''hosed the system of meeting these responsibilities aud providing for these needs does not rest on the unimproved, value. Under ■such circumstances, in a city like Wellington, be would-be; 1 a bold man who would try to apply good theory to-bad practice, without a knowledge of the practical effects iu : detail.;- Without this knowledge of details • readjustment is impossible. ' The. average ratepayer, feeling this truth, will not vote on the question unless, ho has practical information to guide him. He knows that the best theory may he weak in the face of the worst practice, strengthened by sixty :years 'of possession. But, if it is impossible to say that the result of-change must bo good, it is equally impossible to say that it must bo bad. The problem can only bo studied by the light of detailed information. That information is iu the hands of the Council.- That body knows, or ought to know, the unimproved value of every section of the city, and the worth of every .improvement; and, knowing so much, ought to, have no difficulty in drawing up lists showing what each ratepayer’s burden is now, aiid what it will be under a system of rating cn the unimproved value. Wo have had talk enough- on the subject, aud there is no room for more, because' on the question of principle, nearly everybody is agreed. Those who desire the introduction of the new principle would do well to call for the official publication of the necessary practical details. This has in other places been found to be a necessary preliminary step, and has in most instances removed: the last vestige of opposition to the Inauguration of a more rational basis of municipal rating. It may or may. not be found, when the facts are set forth, that the suggested change would secure “the greatest good for the greatest number” of ratepayers. If the result would be to increase the burdens of the* majority, they would be expected to negative tho proposal ; but the extended franchise being applicable to the pell,' tho question would, doubtless be decided in accordance with the welfare of the community as- a whole, rather than in the interests of the direct payers of rates.